Evolution of the Hungarian Economy 1848-1998 II. [antikvár]

Preface to the Series and Acknowledgments The present volume is a component of a series that is intended to present a comprehensive survey of the many aspects of East Central European society. The books in this series deal with peoples whose homelands lie between the Germans to the west, the Russians, Ukrainians and Belorussians to the east and north, and the Mediterranean and Adriatic seas to the south. They constitute a particular civilization, one that is at once an integral part of Europe, yet substantially different from the West. The area is characterized by a rich diversity of languages, religions and governments. The study of this complex area demands a multidisciplinaiy approach, and, accordingly, our contributors to the series represent several academic disciplines. They have been drawn from universities and other scholarly institutions in the United States and Western Europe, as well as East and Central Europe. The author of the present volume is a prominent Hungarian expert of his theme. The editors are responsible for ensuring the comprehensiveness, cohesion, internal balance, and scholarly quality of the series they have launched. We cheerfully accept this responsibility and intend this work to be neither justification nor condemnation of the policies, attitudes, and activities of any person involved. At the same time, because the contributors represent so many different disciplines, interpretations, and schools of thought, our policy in this, as in the past and future volumes, is to present their contributions'without major modifications. The Biographies of Key Personalities and the Selected Bibliography were compiled by Julianna Parti. vii